No Case Is Too Big To Notify A Claims-Made Insurer

A headline-grabbing case regarding race in the college admissions process at an elite university, appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, is the type of nightmare scenario that might inspire an educational institution to secure a solid excess insurance policy lest the underlying liability policy’s limits evaporate in the face of snowballing legal fees.

Faced with exactly this scenario, Harvard College recently learned the hard way that the high-profile nature of such a case does not satisfy the notice requirement of a claims-made excess insurance policy, where the policy requires the insured to provide written notice of a claim within a specified period of time.

Having exceeded the $25 million limits of its educational institution liability policy, Harvard filed suit seeking coverage from Zurich American Insurance Company (‘Zurich’) for the fees it incurred defending an underlying lawsuit filed in November 2014.

On November 2, 2022, Judge Allison Burroughs of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of Zurich.

The basis for this decision was that while Harvard gave timely notice to its primary liability insurer, it first gave written notice of the claim to Zurich on May 23, 2017. By its terms the Zurich policy only covered claims that were made during the policy period of November 1, 2014, through November 1, 2015 and reported to the insurer within 90 days of the period’s end.